THE ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY. 



Z7 



Colonel Thornton, we read, received a piece of plate 

 from Sir Harry Featherstone and Sir John Ramsden, Barts., 

 as a compromise to a bet made in honour of a Hambleton 

 fox. Colonel Thornton, by his original bet, enoaged for 

 three hundred guineas p.p. to find a fox at Hunt's Whin, 

 or in the Easingwold country, that, after Christmas, 1779, 

 should run twenty miles ; the day to be fixed and the 

 niorning to be approved by Colonel Thornton, and to 

 be determined h\ Sir [ohn Ramsden and .Sir Harrv 

 Featherstone, or the company. 



Certificate. 



' We, the undersigned, do declare that on the day appointed 

 'for the decision of a bet, made by Colonel Thornton with 

 ' Sir John Ramsden and .Sir Harry Featherstone, that a 

 'fox broke off in view of hounds and the compan}-, which 

 'fox was killed after a continuous burst (there not being" 

 'one check), by the different watches, for two hours and 

 ' thirty-eight minutes ; and we, being the only gentlemen 

 ' present, do believe the said fox to have run at least 

 ' twentv-eight miles. Colonel Thornton being a party 

 'concerned, gave no vote. 



' Lascelles Lascelles. Val. Kitchingman. 

 ' Henry Kitchingman. Wm. Dawson. 

 ' Randolph Marriott. 



' There were only eight horsemen out of seventy up.' 



Of far more interest to us than the mere record of 

 Colonel Thornton's bet, would have been an account of the 

 run it.self Where that stout fox was found, the country he 

 crossed, and the incidents of the run, are, however, all buried 

 in oblivion. There can be no doubt about this having been 

 a good run, and the bona fides of the arbitrators is not 

 to be disputed ; but I fancy they must have rather over- 

 estimated the distance, or their time must have been 



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